London Mozart Players - The Complete HMV Stereo Recordings

This very cheaply priced and well-packaged set shows what the London Mozart Players (LMP) were like in the years before they had competition, so far as chamber orchestras went. Many distinguished soloists played in the LMP, though unfortunately no list is provided here. These recordings, made in the late 1950s, mostly in ‘experimental stereo,’ show not only how alert a body it was, but also what comparatively advanced Mozart style of the period was like. 

Our rating

4

Michael Beek

Published: January 20, 2012 at 4:30 pm

COMPOSERS: Arriaga,Haydn,Mozart
LABELS: First Hand Records
WORKS: Mozart: Symphonies Nos 28 & 41 (Jupiter); Concertos for Two Pianos: in E flat, K365; in F, K242; Serenade No. 9 in D, K320; Four Minuets, K601 etc; Arriaga: Symphony in D; Haydn: Symphony No. 103 (Drumroll)
PERFORMER: Vitya Vronsky, Victor Babin (piano); London Mozart Players/Harry Blech
CATALOGUE NO: FHR 05 ADD mono/stereo

This very cheaply priced and well-packaged set shows what the London Mozart Players (LMP) were like in the years before they had competition, so far as chamber orchestras went. Many distinguished soloists played in the LMP, though unfortunately no list is provided here. These recordings, made in the late 1950s, mostly in ‘experimental stereo,’ show not only how alert a body it was, but also what comparatively advanced Mozart style of the period was like.

There are no very slow tempos, nor, for that matter, any very fast ones. In some cases, such as the Jupiter Symphony, that can lead to a hint of characterlessness, even when individual instrumental contributions are lively and fresh. Harry Blech, the founder and for many years the chief conductor of the LMP, didn’t, apparently, favour crisp articulation, so there are smudgy passages, and in the incredible contrapuntal flights of the last movement of this work one can’t hear as much detail as one would like. Also, there are no repeats, here or anywhere, except in minuets.

Still, it’s a fascinating choice of works, with the remarkable Symphony by Arriaga, one of the two most precocious talents in the history of composition, who died at 20, given a spirited account. Mozart’s great Posthorn Serenade, a puzzlingly neglected masterpiece nowadays, also comes up full of charm and inventiveness. The Two-Piano Concerto in E flat, K365, is routine. But the Haydn symphony which concludes the set, one of his greatest, is winningly played and interpreted.

The sound is never less than decent, though the high strings sometimes sound thin and vinegary. Michael Tanner

Michael Beek

Reviews Editor, BBC Music Magazine

Michael is the Reviews Editor of BBC Music Magazine. He looks after the 26 pages of recording and book reviews in the magazine each month, deciding what will be reviewed – no easy task with so much being sent in for consideration! Michael joined the team in 2018, following ten years as a freelance film music journalist and fifteen years at St George's Bristol. Film and television music is his favourite thing, and when he’s not listening to things to be reviewed in the mag, Michael loves nothing more than to listen to the music of John Williams and James Horner – his favourite film composers. He was the Editor of MusicfromtheMovies.com and has written for the BBC Proms, BBC Concert Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Albert Hall, Hollywood in Vienna and Silva Screen Records. His favourite writing gigs so far have been programmes for each of the Doctor Who Proms, soundtrack album notes for Doctor Who – Series 4 and Torchwood – Children of Earth, plus programmes and features for live concert screenings of Jurassic Park, Gladiator, Back to the Future and Raiders of the Lost Ark. While he never got the chance to interview the late James Horner, Michael was delighted to spend an hour on the phone with John Williams for the 2020 Christmas issue of BBC Music Magazine. Also a presenter, Michael has hosted concerts and live events for Bristol Film Festival and St George's Bristol, plus Debbie Wiseman's ‘Music and Words from Wolf Hall’ shows at venues across the UK. Michael has worked regularly with Debbie Wiseman over the years, writing concert programmes and scripts (for Terry Wogan and Simon Bates) and producing her 2011 album Piano Stories.
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